Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Some of the frequently asked questions (FAQ) we receive here at My Video History.

Why a video biography?

Books are good, but nothing beats the staying power of a compelling video.

Books are great at placing the reader in situations and events, and explaining a person’s thoughts, but a video allows for a richer, more nuanced mix of personality, character, language and smile.

With a video you can feel that the person is in the same room as you, talking directly to you, sharing their stories and life with you.

Call us today on (08) 8120 0300 or email us using the form to discuss with us why video is best for creating a powerful, compelling legacy for future generations.

Who would be interested in what I say?

It’s not just your children who are interested in your life, your grandchildren are too, and even great grandchildren will one day be fascinated to learn more about your life and the times you grew up in.

Don’t forget, what may seem mundane and everyday to you will be ‘otherworldly’ to them.

Your biography will be an important piece of history to future generations.

What do I say?

A good place to start is where you were born, but we have a list of questions that we can discuss when we meet up for the first time. Remember, the final video only runs for an hour — we’re very confident you won’t run out of things to say!

One thing you might want to consider is a section where you give a blessing.

What’s a ‘blessing’? A blessing is that part of your video where you get to ‘say your piece’ to loved ones. Here’s some sentence starters to give you an idea:

“{Their name} the potential I see in you is…”

“{Their name} what I love most about you is…”

“{Their name} your best quality is…”

“{Their name} the time I had the most fun with you was…”

Blessings are powerful ways of letting the people you care about know it, the most powerful of all blessings being “{Their name}, I love you.”

What do I wear?

Smart and comfortable clothes are best, nothing too revealing. Try and avoid fine-patterned shirts, tops and jackets, such as herringbone, which could ‘swim’ in the camera lens.

Stick to single-colour clothing or larger blocks of colours, and if possible avoid wearing just black and white (unless that is the style you are known for), as it can cause obstacles with the exposure settings of the camera.

Feel free to discuss your wardrobe choices with us anytime.

What do I have to do?

Your involvement is simple:

(if you are purchasing the Deluxe and Elite packages) provide me with a dozen (twenty for the Elite package) cherished photos, with details such as names and dates written on a Post-It note on the back of them, when I come and see you. I will scan them and give you back the photos. If they are in albums, leave them in the album and put the Post-It note underneath the photo

(every package) feel as comfortable as you can and allow me to place lights and the camera in a suitable room in your home or office

meet with me twice; once to discuss the interview, what we shall talk about and what we shall leave out (I’ll help you get clear on what you want to say), and the second time to film the interview, which should take around 3-4 hours if we include lunch (only food and water during lunch!)

Once we have filmed the interview, we will go away and edit the footage and the photos we scanned into a digital package. This process will take around 2-3 weeks.

Storage and sharing

Technology is changing. Fast. Remember the 1.44MB floppy disk? Zip drives? I even remember 5 and a 1/4″ floppy drives! No one can predict what storage options will be available in 10 years, let alone 100 years.

Music CDs have gone the same way; cars don’t even come with CD players in them anymore. So too with DVDs: they are on the way out, dying off.

So we provide our clients with a boxed USB thumb drive that they can insert into their TVs and watch their interview, as well as storing the video file on Vimeo. Vimeo is the website where our clients can watch their interview, and share it with friends and family around the world.

Rehearse, rehearse

We know it can be intimidating speaking with us when there’s a camera in the room, so we build into your interview the opportunity to record a second video, using the first interview as a test run. Many of our customers watch their first interview and realise they had made errors and mistakes. So we record you for a second time in order to iron those bugs out of the system.